With a career devoted to understanding how humans make decisions, Andy Ellis is a seasoned technology and business executive with deep expertise in cybersecurity, managing risk, and leading an inclusive culture. He is the founder and CEO of
Duha, a boutique advisory firm focused on providing strategic consulting in the areas of Leadership, Management, Cybersecurity, Technology Risk, and Enterprise Risk Management. He is the author of
1% Leadership, Operating Partner at
YL Ventures, Advisory CISO at
Orca Security, and is an advisor to cyber security startups. The former chief security officer of Akamai Technologies, Ellis spent two decades “making the Internet suck less,” witnessing first-hand how humans inside and out make critical decisions about security and safety.
When speaking, Ellis shares his expert insights on internet safety, risk management, decision making, and security governance. Combining more than 25 years of security experience with insider anecdotes from his time serving as a CSO, he explores how and why humans make risk choices and decisions – and their impact on security. With his signature humor and relatability, Ellis teaches audiences how to protect their organizations by identifying the hidden factors that influence our risk choices, along with actionable strategies to help guide people to make more favorable, more secure decisions.
In his 20 years with Akamai, he was a driving force behind transforming the company into a major security player – growing its security business to more than $1B in annual revenue, while also governing risk across the business. He designed and brought to market Akamai's TLS acceleration network, its DDoS defense offerings, and several of its security solutions. He also guided Akamai's IT transformation to a distributed, zero-trust enterprise based on strong authentication. In addition to creating a safe and secure platform for its customers, Andy was instrumental in driving adoption towards compliance standards such as PCI and FedRamp that were critical to Akamai’s growth. He developed the Severe Vulnerability process that is the foundation of identifying and mitigating risks quickly on Akamai’s platform, led its vulnerability management strategy, and under his leadership, grew representation of women in its information security team to more than 40%.
Active in internet policy and governance circles, Ellis has supported Akamai CEOs in roles on the NIAC and NSTAC, as well as directly served on the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council. He has spoken at conferences like RSA and Business of Software, and lectured at the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, Army War College, BC Law, and the MIT Sloan School.
Ellis has received a wide variety of accolades, including the CSO Compass Award, Air Force Commendation Medal, Spirit of Disneyland Award, Wine Spectator Award of Excellence (for The Arlington Inn), and was the winner of the Sherman Oaks Galleria Spelling Bee. He was also inducted into the prestigious IDG CSO Hall of Fame in 2021, which honors those whose work has advanced the CSO/CISO role, secured businesses, and inspired others in the industry.
A graduate of MIT with a degree in computer science, Ellis served as an officer in the United States Air Force with the 609th Information Warfare Squadron and the Electronic Systems Center.
